It was on the 3rd hole. Par 3. It was 169 metres to the flag with the wind helping from the left. Ángel Hidalgo hit the shot just as he wanted. A smooth 7-iron to the fade. The ball was baring its teeth on its way to the pin. As it soared through the air, it had the sound of a hole-in-one. It stopped just a foot away. Right there, at that moment, the 27-year-old from Málaga said to Gonzalo Vicente, his caddie: “Win, this is going to be fun”. He had just plugged in the playstation.
Indeed, he had just made a textbook birdie on the 2nd: great drive, splendid wedge, and a good two-metre putt. An ‘easy’ birdie. But it was precisely on that shot, that 7-iron, when he had that pleasant and unfortunately elusive feeling of being completely in control of his game. “It was like playing playstation. Every shot was as I wanted, and I was aiming for the flag. Even the ones I missed were chasing the pin. I’m very happy. It was about asking Win for the driver, hitting it with everything, and then I always had the perfect distance for each iron. However I hit it, it went to the flag,” explained the golfer from Las Brisas raised in Guadalmina shortly after signing the card.
And why wouldn’t he be? Hidalgo (-14) has signed the best round of the day this Saturday at the Irish Open. A top-class moving day. He shot 63, nine under par, and has given himself an excellent chance of victory for tomorrow. He will start one shot behind Adrien Saddier (-15) from second position. Not only was it the best result today at the K Club, but he also broke his own record on the DP World Tour. It’s his lowest round ever and also the day with the most birdies. He has smashed his record. He made 12, while his best record until now was eight.
He was close to matching his previous record in one go. “It was magical,” Win confessed to Ten Golf after finishing the round. And indeed, Ángel strung together no less than seven consecutive birdies between holes 2 and 8. He began to levitate around the course. Either he left them very close, or the putter appeared in massive destruction mode. On the 5th hole, he sank a great putt of more than 12 metres and also holed one of seven on the 8th and another of three metres on the 6th. It was the perfect combination of great shots and very good putts.
It’s very difficult not to feel dizzy when you get on that birdie train. Ángel chose not to look back or down. “I’m not quite sure how I did it, but the only thing I was thinking about was attack, attack, and attack. Win kept telling me to keep going, keep going, don’t stop.” His superb performance didn’t stop at those seven consecutive birdies. Right on the 9th, he made a bogey, but today nothing was going to stop Hidalgo. He made four more birdies between the 10th and the 15th, and not even an untimely double bogey on the 16th, after sending his second shot into the water (a ball that opened more than expected), stopped his momentum. He saved a great one on the 17th with a spectacular read from Win and finished with a fabulous birdie on the 18th.
Hidalgo has made it into the star match on Sunday in Ireland. “I can’t wait for tomorrow to come to play again. I have a chance to win, and I’m going to give it my all. Let’s see where we get to.” Magical Hidalgo.
